Poarch With Game-High 21 Points

HAVERFORD, PA – Host Haverford College held off a Washington College rally to hold on for a 62-60 win at Gooding Arena in Centennial Conference men's basketball action on Thursday evening.  The Fords improve to 7-12 overall and 5-8 in the conference, while the Shoremen drop to 2-18 and 2-11. 

The Fords raced out to a quick 14-2 lead in the first 3:56 of the game on a Gibby Graves jumper in the paint as Haverford scored the seven points of the contest.  Haverford would lead 21-9 with 10:26 left in the first half on a Geoff Hartmann basket when Washington went on a 9-2 spurt to cut the lead to 23-18 with 8:33 remaining in the second half on a fast-break layup by sophomore guard Stephen Poarch (Middletown, DE/Sanford School).  The Fords would score seven of the next nine points to take a 30-20 lead with 6:21 to go in the opening half on a Brett Cohen bucket.  However the Shoremen outscored the Fords the rest of the half, 12-6, to cut the lead to 36-32 at halftime.  A three-pointer by sophomore guard Sean Brooks (North Wales, PA/North Penn) with 58 seconds left in the first closed out the first half scoring.  

In the second half, the Shoremen tied the score at 38-38 just 2:47 into the half on a Poarch layup.  Haverford wound answer with six unanswered points to grab a 44-38 lead with 14:41 to go in the second on a Cohen lay-in.  The Shoremen would get the game within one point, 48-47, with 10:35 to go in the contest on a three-pointer by freshman forward Pat Morgan (Havertown, PA/Haverford).   However, Haverford answered with eight consecutive points to take a 56-47 lead with 5:33 left in the game on a Louis Cipriano jumper.  The Shoremen would go on a 7-2 run to cut the lead to 58-54 with 2:19 to go on two Poarch free throws.  After two free throws by Graves pushed the lead to 60-54 with 1:50 to go, sophomore guard John Weston (Tampa, FL/Bolles School) sinks a triple to cut the lead to 60-57, but the Fords got a jumper by Cam Baker with 47 ticks left to push the lead to 62-57.  But Poarch countered with a three-pointer to trim the lead to 62-60 with 20 seconds remaining.  On the Fords' next possession, Weston stole the ball from Cohen with 10 seconds and was fouled three seconds later and had a chance to tie the game from the foul line in a one-and-one situation.  Weston missed the first free throw and Haverford got the ball.  The Shoremen fouled Lucas Columbo and he missed two free throws to give WC one last chance, but Washington could not get a shot off and Haverford held on for the win.

Baker scored 18 points to lead the Fords as he connected on 7-of-8 shots from the floor and led all players with four steals.  Joining Baker in double figures for the Fords were Cipriano with 14 points and Cohen added 10 points.  James Levine had eight assists to lead all players, while Cohen and Levine had six rebounds to lead Haverford and all players.  Haverford shot 59% (26-for-44) from the floor, 43% (3-for-7) from behind the arc and 64% (7-for-11) from the foul line.  The Fords held a 26-22 edge in rebounds and a 40-24 advantage in points in the paint.

For the Shoremen, Poarch had 21 points to lead all players and had six assists to lead the team.  Senior forward Charlie McShane (West Deptford, NJ/West Deptford) had three steals to lead the squad.  The Shoremen shot 45 % (22-for-49) from the field, 38% (8-for-21) from three-point range and 89% (8-for-9) from the foul line.  WC had 18 turnovers, while Haverford had 19 and Washington had a 22-16 edge in points in the paint.

Washington is back on the court on Saturday with a 2:00 p.m. game at Dickinson in conference action.